Seal-lock



fnven agli/filiali!! Patented Apr. 15,1890.

SEAL LOCK.

L. A. BROWN.

f Model.)

ma mums Pinus cm, moro-urna., wunma'mn, mc,

UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE.

SEAL- LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,490, dated April l5, 1890.

Application led November 25, 1889. Serial No. 331,443. (Model.)

To @ZZ whom. it may concern:

Beit known that I, LEWIS A. BROWN, of St; Louis, Missouri, have niade a new and useful Improvement in Seal-Locks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This improved seal-lock can be applied to many constructions requiring to be sealed.

Wherever a part of the nature of a bolt is used in fastening a bag, box, trunk, door, or other package or structure, it can, as arule, be readily utilized. It can be employed to especial advantage upon freight-car doors, in that it is capable of being easily operated in the dark as Well as in the light and in all weathers, is adapted to the ordinary car and so as not to present any obstruction to its use, and can have applied to it any memoranda which it is desirable to have appear upon a car-seal.

It consists substantially as is hereinafter set forth and claimed, aided by the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in Which-d Figure lis an elevation showing the iniproved seal-lock applied to a car-door. Only that portion of the car is shown which is needed to illustrate the application; Fig. 2, a view in perspective of the bolt; Fig. 3,a view in perspective of the sleeve used upon the bolt; Fig. 4, a vertical section on the line 4 4 of Fig. l, the seal and its tie not being shown; Fig. 5, a view showing the lower end of the bolt in elevation and the sleeve in section. The sleeve is raised and the seal-tie is shown attached to the bolt; Fig. 6,aview analogous to that of Fig. 5, but showing the sleeve lowered upon the bolt; Fig. 7, a view of the parts of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrow a', Fig. 5. The bolt and tie are shown in elevation and the sleeve in section, and the section of the sleeve-shoulder being in a different plane from that of the main portion of the sleeve. Fig. 8 vis a vieiv analogous to that of Fig. 7, but showing the sleeve lowered upon the bolt to the lower end thereof; Fig. 9, a horizontal section on the line 9 9 of Fig. 4c, and Fig. l() a horizontal section on the line l0 lO of Fig. el.

The views are not all upon the saine scale.

The same letters of reference denote the saine parts.

The mechanism of the seal-lock when fully carried out consists substantially of the seal proper A, the bolt B, the sleeve C, andthe lugs or bearings D D for sustaining the bolt and parts thereto attached.

The seal proper A can be composed of any suitable substance or substances, and it can be made in any suitable proportions, shape, and size consistent With the purposes of a seal and with the nature of the improvement. A. flat, square, or squarish form, such as indicated, is a desirable shape, and its composition is preferably sulphur, glue, and building-cement in suitable proportions and melted or fused together, as thereby is obtained a seal of a proper shape for coacting with the other parts of the device and for bearing such marks or data as are desired upon the seal, and also of such a nature as Will retain its form in use until it is desired to open the fastening to which the seal is applied, and also Which cannot Well be detached from the tie which is used to conneet it With the bolt-without so destroying, breaking, or marring it as to readilyindicate to an observer that it had been interfered with.

The seal is adapted to be connected with the bolt B by means of a tie E. In forming the seal the end or ends or other portion of the tie is so united with the seal that the seal cannot, as stated, be detached therefrom Without altering the appearance of the seal.

In practice the ends e e of the tie, as indicated in Fig. l, are bent, so as to fasten them in the seal. The function of the tie is to soconnect the seal with the bolt as to require the seal to be broken, bent, or marred before the tie can be disconnected from the bolt. To this end the tie, the sleeve, and the bolt can be variously relatively constructed, and the construction shown is considered not the only but the best one. That part c of the tie which engages with the bolt is in the form remaining portion of the device, is passed between the bolt and the surrounding sleeve C, (in the event the sleeve is a fixture upon the bolt,) or, as is preferable, is passed onto a shoulder b, formed upon the bolt, as is represented substantially in Figs. and 7, and afterward the sleeve C, which is closely fitted of a loop, which, in attaching the seal to the IOO to the bolt and so adapted to be slipped longitudinally thereupon, is drawn upon the bolt into the position shown substantially in Figs. 6 and 8. By this means the loop of the tie is so confined that it cannotbe detached from its position without breaking or marring the seal A, for when the seal A is in p0- sition it comes against or substantially against the lower end of the sleeve C, and the sleeve, when in the position of Figs. 6 and 8, is interlocked with the tie, so that it (the sleeve) cannot be slipped in the opposite direction, (toward its position of Figs. 5 and 7,) and before the sleeve can be ithus moved the seal must be broken to disengage it from the tie.

The described interlocking with the tie is effected, preferably, in the following manner: The bolt-,shoulder b is notched at b. The sleeve C is provided with a shoulder c. Vhen the sleeve is slipped into the position of Figs. 6 and S its shoulder c enters the notch b', so as to pass beyond the inner end e2 of the tie, whereupon the tie end comes in the rear of the sleeve-shoulder, substantially as shown in Figs. 6 and 8. rlhe parts in question are contrived so that the described engagement of the sleeve-shoulder with the tie is insured as soon as the sleeve-shoulder passes the tie. The preferable mode of accomplishing this is by making the tie of springy material--such as steel wire-and giving its loop end the bent shape shown in Figs. 5 and G and by beveling the outer surface c of the sleeve-shoulder c, substantially as shown. Then, as the sleeve is slipped into its position of Figs. 6 and 8, the beveled shoulder c rides upon the tie end e2, causing the tie end to be depressed as the shoulder c passes it, and to rise in the rear of the shouldercwhen the parts are in the position of Figs. 6 and 8. It is desirable for the shoulder c to project inward into the boltnotch, so that the tip of the shoulder c shall come opposite the grooves b2 b2 in the bolt, which respectively receive the sides c3 e3 of the tie-loop, and hence the bolt-recess b3, which, to carry out the described operation of the parts, is formed in the bolt, is grooved at b4 to provide room for the tie end e2 as the sleeve-shoulder is passing it. The bottom b5 of the notch b is inclined, substantially as shown, for the beveled surface c of the sleeve-shoulder to strike against immediately after the sleeve and t-ie have become interlocked. This serves to prevent the sleeve from being slipped too far outward upon or off the bolt. The grooves b2 b2 should be only large enough to admit the sides e3 e3 of the tie-loop. The notch b need not necessarily be at the middle of the shoulder b. When it is desired to unfasten the bolt B, the seal A is broken o from the tie c. rlhe bolt carrying the sleeve C can now be raised in the lugs or staples D D to become disengaged from thev lug or staple D and to free the hasp F or whatever fastening part the bolt B is used to confine. The shoulder b rupon the bolt prevents the bolt from being withdrawn from the lugs D. The part b of' the bolt is shouldered to prevent the bolt from y -being turned around in the bearings 'D D',

tion of-Figs. 5 and 7. The tie remainshanging upon the sleeve-shoulder the sleeve is thus slipped upward, and as the tie 1s thus moved its end e2 encounters the beveled points b9 b. These points constitute a desirable form of tie-discharger, as they operate as the sleeve is moved, as described, to shift the tie end sufiiciently to cause the tie to become disengaged from the sleeve-shoulder. The tie can now be withdrawn from its connection with the bolt and a new seal be applied by hanging its tie-loop upon the boltshoulder and again drawing the sleeve into its position of Figs. 6 and 8. The recess b5 in the bolt is suitably shaped therein, substantially as described, to permit of the d escribed operation, and when the sleeve is in its position of Figs. 5 and 7 the recess is open to permit of the ties lbeing disconnected and connected in the manner described. G and H, Fig. l, may respectively representthe door and door-frame of a car-door, or instead of those parts any other parts to which the improved seal is applicable. An object in securing the bolt so that it cannot be entirely removed from its connection with the bearings in which it works is to prevent theseal from being detached from one'bolt and attached to another.

l desire not to be restricted to any special form of tie or mode of confining its free end e between the bolt and sleeve.

I claimn l 1. The combination of the seal A, the sealtie, the bolt, and the sleeve, said bolt and sleeve each having a shoulder for said tie to engage with, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the seal A; the sealtie, the bolt, and the sleeve, said sleeve being movable upon said bolt and having a shoulder for said tie to engage with, and said bolt hav-A ing a recess to enable said sleeve carrying the said tie to be moved upon said bolt, and also having a shoulder for said tie to engage with, substantially as described.

3. The bolt having the notched shoulder, in combination with the sleeve having the shoulder, and the seal and tie, substantially as and for the purpose specified.v p

4. The combination of the seal and the bolt having the notched shoulder and the grooves, the tie, and the sleeve having the shoulder, substantially as described.

To remove it and to enablev i another seal to be attached, the sleeve is slipped upward upon the bolt into the posi- IGO- IIO

der, and the sleeve having the shoulder and the seal, as and for the purpose set forth.

8.` The combination of the bolt, sleeve, seal,

and tie, said bolt being recessed and having the grooved and notched shoulder, and the tie-discharger, and said slee-ve having the shoulder, substantially as described.

Vitness my hand this 23d day of November, 1889.

LEVIS A.` BROWN.

Vitnesses:

C. D. MOODY, l-I. M. THOMPSON. 

